European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 20, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes february 1981 your income fax part 4 right status7 can save you Money by Walter Yohey editors note this is the fourth in a series of Tux articles by Walter Yochy a noted tax accountant and author of the 1981 income tax guide for military personnel which is now available at your stars stripes your tax status your tax status is merely the category in which youre placed to determine at what rate youll be while making sure you select the Correct tax status int care should be taken to insure youve selected the one which legally pro Vides you with the lowest possible single tax status As the name indicates single tax stat us is for use by single while most individuals know whether or not there Many single taxpayers qualify for some other tax status which gives them a lower rate by the same to some married taxpayers May be deemed single for income tax example jims a Bachelor who supports his aged Mother by paying the rent on her House and by sending her a instead of paying tax As a single he probably qualifies for the lower lax Rales designed to be used by a head of example Jan and her husband arc get Ting a divorce and she has already received her interlocutory divorce she Doest have to pay the High tax rate for a single taxpayer she May still file a joint return with her or she May file a separate return As a married example Johns wife died during the tax although Hes truly Hes entitled to file a joint return with his de ceased wife in the year of this gives him a lower tax rate example Jim married Janet on the last Day of the although they were both single for virtually All of the tax they should file their return As married and enjoy the lower tax rates although you might be legally you May claim the single tax status if you meet All of the following conditions 1 you and your spouse file separate tax returns for the year and 2 your spouse did not live in your Home at any time during the year and 3 you paid More than half the Cost to maintain your Home for the tax year and 4 for More than six months of the tax the Home was the principal place of residence for your child or stepchild whom you can claim As a if you satisfy the above and your Home was your Childs main Home for the entire you May also be entitled to claim the tax status of head of which has even lower tax As there arc several situations where you can incorrectly claim the single tax status and pay unnecessary High taxes for this care should be taken to insure that you have selected the status that legally provides you with the lowest possible tax filing a joint return married taxpayers Are permitted to file their tax returns together called a joint return or they May file in All but a few special a greater tax Sav Ings will be realized if they elect to file married taxpayers would be Wise to compute their tax using both methods especially if they each have Large itemized deductions and then use the status which provides the lower if a joint return is it must include All expenses and deductions of both spouses and it must be signed by both on joint each spouse can be held liable for any tax which is owed even if Only one of the spouses had filing separate returns when a married couple chooses to file separate tax there Are several important requirements which must be satisfied 1 each spouse must provide the irs with the other spouses name and social Security number on his or her separate 2 both spouses must use the same method of claiming if one spouse itemizes the other must do the if one spouse claims the Zero bracket amount Standard they must both do 3 each spouse is required to report his or her own exemptions and deductions on their separate unless the Community property rules discussed later 4 one spouse May not claim an exemption for the other an exception to this Rule is made when separate returns Are filed and one of the spouses had no in if the married taxpayers Are Legal Resi dents of a Community property state and they Are filing each spouse must include on his or her separate re turn half of the total Community income received during the the Community property states Are new Texas and head of household status the head of household tax status features a special tax rate which Falls be Ween the rates for married and single tax the three Basic requirements for claiming head of household tax status Are 1 you must be unmarried As of the last Day of the tax year and 2 you must have paid More than half the Cost of maintaining a Home which was the principal residence of a Parent for whom you can claim a dependency exemption but you do not have to live in the same or 3 you must have paid More than half the Cost of maintaining a Home in which you live and in which one of the following also lived for the entire tax year your unmarried Foster or stepchild whom you can claim As a dependent or your married Foster child or stepchild whom you can claim As a dependent or any relative other than those mentioned above who lives with you in the household you maintain and who qualifies As your in situations where the relative is required to be your the dependency status must not be the result of a multiple support qualifying tax status when your spouse Dies during the tax As surviving Are entitled to file a joint tax return with your deceased spouse during the year of under certain a surviving spouse May also be authorized to claim a special tax status for a period of two years following the year of this special tax status was designed to lower the taxes of widows or widowers haying dependent you May claim this status if you meet the following conditions 1 you would have been entitled to file a joint return with your deceased spouse in the year of death and 2 you have not remarried before the end of the tax year and 3 you provide Over on half of the Cost of maintaining your which is the principal residence of your dependent child or stepchild for the entire if you Are entitled to claim the special tax status of a qualifying you should use the tax table or tax rate schedule identified for taxpayers who Are married and filing a joint editors note while the information provided in this article is of general use to military More detailed guidance on the subjects discussed can be found in Yohes Book 1981 income tax guide for military personnel which is available at your stars stripes the next article in this series will Dis cuss your income which is subject to As Well As income which is italians still grip of quake Ferror continued front Page i aged in some Way by the quake that measured on the Richter seventeen towns were the which struck shortly after dark four Days before left a jagged path of destruction across the prov Many destroyed Vil Lages Are near others that More than 900 tremors have swept across the Region since the big quake and these continue to bring added to the Region is experiencing one of its harshest Winters in with frequent Snow and High but the tent phase is All but gone and the thousands who suffered through deep freeze weather in december and part of january in huddling around Small portable stoves or under Mounds of Blan have almost All moved to caravan but life remains crowded and some of the Lucky ones Are already in pre fab particularly in Naples and its surrounding escaped the tent life they live in hotels and apartments taken Over by the when the shifting Earth int causing new panic and bringing buildings crashing labourers themselves Are knocking them Down with heavy equipment in an Effort to make the areas the caustic growl of bulldozers and front loaders is the dominant sound in every carmelo governor of Avellino puts the death toll a nearly some officials say that no bodies remain beneath the but others Are not sure and it is easy to see Why once you visit the devastated towns of Castelnuovo Diconza de la Campania and Santangelo Dei these where hundreds now look like Landfill garbage Caruso says the More than per sons left homeless Are All being provided although some of their dwellings Are tens of thousands face months of hard work and harsh the damage to the Region is so extensive that no one will attempt to put it in Money at the epicentre of the which looks As though it had been pulverized by repeated artillery the people live in caravan Trail ers and rail cars on the Edge of As in other in a frigid atmosphere of trampled wearing layer upon layer of Musty secondhand their food is dished out at a correlated Metal mess facility and they Wash their clothes by their clotheslines stretched Many of the villagers say they have got ten an abundance of food and they ask for More specialized items things like underwear and heavy particularly rubber boots because they will be going into the Olive Groves and vineyards again hundreds of persons have fled the re Gion but the vast majority mostly hard toiling farm families Are Why would we want to leave asks Filomena Garofalo of Lioni As her eyes move to the softly Beautiful Snow covered peaks surrounding her Lioni is Beautiful and we Are that is the main those who were killed fill mass Graves and tombs near their former such As the Village which has a sign before it that reads Benvenuti a Castelnuovo i but beyond this Welcome lies Only in the cemetery above this desolate Vil the Graves lie jammed together on the Side of a Hill near crypts and tall wind Bent candles and crossed wooden Sticks with the victims names in Crayon on them Mark the head of the at one end of the Long the bodies of two children lie on each Side of their a a Little farther a family of six lies a Man stands Star ing i lost my wife and my he but work is under Way throughout the buildings Are going up everywhere earthquake experts have picked out safer Sites near the destroyed towns for the pre fab villages and the people Are pushing to get Back to their vineyards and still it will be years before the people return to permanent Homes and to the old patterns of agrarian it will take two to three maybe even before the people Are fully re says Alberto mayor of Castelnuovo i the massive Relief flown in from Many countries of Western the and military installations in eur has included thousands of tents and food and medical sup Small caravans trailers and prefabricated Caruso talks of new building codes for the and he says everyone should be in prefabricated houses by the end of the it is important that the people get the Economy going he citing the detrimental effect that Lon term welfare living might nearly Are living in the 6by 12foot trailers and More than half that Many Are living in Conse in Many areas schools Are at tended on a rotating kids May go every other Day or afternoons in homeless quake victims often demonstrate for better quarters that Are nearer their and those aboard three passenger ships in the Harbor complain of squalid living the provided a big part of the air lift Relief and million has been approved by the Congress for Long term there Are difficult to subs Tanti that some of the Relief is not being distributed and that crime groups Are dip Ping into Relief Giuseppe who Heads the government Relief Effort indicates that one of the problems with Relief is bureaucratic he admits that it often has been difficult to get timely Relief Many italians fear that they will never see the Money that is being sent from other Tell the americans to make sure the Money they Are sending goes for houses for said Amalia Mauro of who lives aboard one of the passenger we must have the houses or we will be